Today the Vatican announced two popes will be sainted, but Mother Teresa appears to have gotten the shaft. Pope John Paul II and John XXIII will be canonized on April 27 2014. Within the political and ideological sphere of the Catholicism, the two men represent strongly differing viewpoints. Pope John is thought of as a progressive and liberal catholic leader responsible for the Second Vatican Council, a summit that revised the ruling dogma and brought the Roman Catholic Church into the 20th century. He was pontiff from 1958-1963.
Pope John Paul II is a hero to conservative Catholics. He was a vociferous critic of communism, particularly in eastern Europe. He also conducted mass in Chile during the despotic reign of Pinochet, allowing the mass to become a form of activism in which people spoke out against the stifling authoritarianism. Despite being a telegenic leader who radiated with grandfatherly love, John Paul’s reign was not without controversy. His pro-life position on abortion frustrated liberal Catholics, but perhaps not as much as his condemnation of contraception.
It was his involvement in child sex abuse scandals though that casts a shadow over his tenure as pope. According to Jason Berry of The Nation, “despite a 1984 warning memo from the Rev. Thomas Doyle, then a canon lawyer in the Vatican Embassy in Washington,” and an additional report co-authored by him in 1985, Pope John Paul provided no victim assistance nor made any attempt to remove pedophiles from the priesthood. This apathy was compounded by his reluctance to reform church law in respect to child molesters. “In 1989 the US conference of bishops sent experts in canon law to Rome,” looking for a way to defrock perpetrators instead of waiting on the sluggish Vatican power structure. Pope John Paul II did no cooperate.
It is for this reason that his passage into sainthood ahead of Mother Teresa remains baffling. John Paul himself had beatified Mother Teresa in the wake of her death, placing her ahead of the still living John Paul on the road to Catholic sainthood. To his credit, John Paul worked to revise the process of canonization of becoming a saint, which involves The Vatican establishing proof miracles were performed in the name of the prospective saint. In the modern era of forensic medicine, this seems hardly reasonable.
Mother Teresa won the noble prize in 1979 for her work with the poor. In addition she won the 1971 Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and the 1971 Nehru Prize. Pope John Paul II himself was an avid supporter of her work. Although easy to underestimate because of her frail stature, she was fluent in five languages. She established The Missionaries of Charity, providing help to the poor, the sick, and the homeless around the world. Considering that Pope John Paul II has performed no miracles, it appears Mother Teresa has been shafted by The Vatican. It is most likely unintentional; nevertheless, supporters of Mother Teresa must be frustrated.
Written By David Arroyo
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15 Responses
// “In 1989 the US conference of bishops sent experts in canon law to Rome,” looking for a way to defrock perpetrators instead of waiting on the sluggish Vatican power structure.”//
Giving information to the police may have got results and would have been quicker
What year was the last female saint confirmed?
A shameless angel of death who deplored the poor and attempted to proselytize and propogate her sect in India while grovelling to such notorious figures as Michéle Bennet of Haiti the wife of a sickening corrupt and perverse tyrant and princess Diana, a divorced Prodestant, who sinned quite openly with a Muslim.
The two popes did have approved miracles attributed to them, and they have to go under lot of scrutiny for this to happen. I am sure that Mother Theresa will achieve this. does not mean that she is not a saint already, she just remains to be a canonized saint. If there weren’t strict criteria in place then lots of undeserving people could be proclaimed unjustly.
Hail Teresa…full of grace…The Lord is with you…..
I THINK THIS IS DISGUSTING A POPE MAKING ANOTHER POPE A SAINT WITHOUT THE CRITERIA NECESSARY TO BE. I THINK THIS IS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST
LOUISE DE LOSA
I believe it matters little whether Mother Teresa is canonized soon or late. She called herself a saint of darkness due to the terrible sufferings she underwent for the love of God, in particular the long, long absence of God in her life. Yet she carried on in the simple perseverance of giving to the poorest of the poor: love and aid. When the time comes for her to canonized, that will be soon enough, for that will be the will of God.
Why was mother Teresa not canonized with John the 23 John Paul II
Not sure about those Popes but Mother Theresa being named a Saint is a no brainer.
I cannot understand how Mother Teresa is not canonized before these two popes. I also don’t understand why either of these popes are canonized before Pope Pius XII who took such an heroic stand against the Nazis. Which, by the way, was totally obscured post WWII. It is only recently that we have proof of Pope Pius XII’s actions. Bottom line, this is totally unfair to Mother Teresa. Also, totally unfair it all of the victims of the Catholic Church’s sex scandals to canonize John Paul II.
Another reason to boot John Paul II out of the sainthood line: because he canonized Mother T. The earlier prizes, eh, maybe things deteriorated for her, I don’t know, as her ‘career’ went on. She epitomizes all the sadistic nuns we Catholics as kids ever experienced. I hope she does get the shaft, or the boot, or whatever you call de-canonization. OTOH, Pope John XXIII, the Good Pope, is so eminently qualified to be revered that his day should be his own.
You state that his reign wasn’t without controversy because “His pro-life position on abortion frustrated liberal Catholics, but perhaps not as much as his condemnation of contraception.”?! It’s not ‘controversial’ to uphold the basic teachings and beliefs of the Church…it would be controversial, in fact, if he had not upheld them. As for the abuse scandal…it’s of no surprise to many that the darkness of a society that has turned from religion and it’s moral roots into a sick and reckless society ‘hyper-inflated with sexuality’ and disregard for God has stretched it’s dysfunction and influence onto members of the clergy, just as it has bled into our school systems, our military, scouting, nursing homes, and anywhere else where innocents can be victimized. Critics who single out the Catholic Church need to broaden their blinders to the whole of the problem. That the Catholic Church was caught unprepared and responded inadequately, even negligibly in some cases, I can’t dispute. But in the end, all truths need to be examined, not just the truths that some latch vehemently onto with the sole purpose of vilifying the Catholic Church.
What happened to Mother Teresa’s sainthood? Not to mention Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s daughter, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop. Why are the two popes being pushed ahead of these most worthy women? I can understand Pope John XXIII, but Pope John Paul II was involved in a lot of the Vatican cover-up of sexual abuse cases. Why do the women always get shoved aside — oh, that’s right, just like the nuns always get shunted aside in the U.S.
Actually, I think you were referring to John XXIII in that sentence. I get it now, but it was a little unclear, since “John” by itself could refer to either pope.
John Paul II was pope from 1978 to 2005. You might want to correct the last sentence of your first paragraph.